WARNING!!!

Another area of concern is the potential for wild hogs to serve as reservoirs for diseases and parasites that may affect native wildlife, livestock, and people. Hogs have been known to carry pathogens, including cholera, pseudorabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, anthrax, ticks, fleas, lice, and various flukes and worms. You may remember that several dogs used for hunting at the Corbett Wildlife Management Area were recently infected with pseudorabies and had to be destroyed. Wild hogs were implicated in this incident. Millions of dollars are spent each year in the U.S. to keep livestock safe from the diseases carried by wild hogs. Brucellosis can be a serious threat to hunters if they do not take precautions when cleaning infected animals

                                                About Feral Hogs

The wild pig (Sus scrofa), also called the wild hog, wild boar or feral pig, is not a Florida native and may have been introduced by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto as early as 1539.They occur in all of Florida's 67 counties within a wide variety of habitats, but prefer oak-cabbage palm hammocks, freshwater marshes and sloughs and pine flatwoods. Wild pigs can reach weights of more than 150 pounds and be 5-6 feet long. They usually travel in small family groups or alone.

Wild pigs are omnivorous (eating all kinds of foods, both plants and animals) and feed by rooting with their broad snouts. They may cause disturbance of the soil and ground cover vegetation and leave the area looking like a plowed field.

Trying to prevent wild pigs from coming onto your property is usually futile, but adequate fencing can keep them out of small yards and gardens. On private property, nuisance pigs may be trapped using pens with trap doors and baited with acorns or old corn. Trapped animals may not be released on public land, and can only be released on private property with landowner permission. See the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.